Olympic and Asian Games National Team ‘Worried About Attack’ Thrown by ‘Former Goal Scorer’ Hwang Seon-hong
Olympic Team Losses to Qatar in First Match of U-23 Qualifiers… AG team ‘lack of professional strikers’
Both the under-22 (U-22) soccer team for the 2024 Paris Olympics and the Hangzhou Asian Games national team,
led by coach Hwang Sun-hong, who made a name for himself as the national team’s starting striker during his playing days, are experiencing ‘offensive concerns’.
Hwang Sun-hong
Coach Hwang has convened both the Olympic team and the Hangzhou Asian Games in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do and is leading the training. 카지노사이트탑
The Olympic team entered the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Asian Cup qualifiers, which is the first gateway to the Paris Olympics.
They have to go back and forth between the two teams to play the U-23 Asian Cup preliminaries and the Asian Games matches, but the first step in the tight competition is not easy.
U-23 Asian Cup
The Olympic team suffered an unexpected 0-2 loss to Qatar in the first match of the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers on the 6th, and the mood calmed down from the start.
Hwang Seon-hong was unable to control both the process and the result, to the point where it was considered fortunate that the match against Qatar,
which was hosting the U-23 Asian Cup finals in his country,
was not reflected in the preliminary rankings as it was considered a friendly match.
It was disappointing that the defense conceded goals in vain due to the goalkeeper’s mistakes, but it was even more embarrassing that they lost without scoring a single goal at home against Qatar,
which is awkward to call a ‘powerful team’.
Qatar
In this game, Korea had 10 shots and 2 effective shots, both fewer than Qatar (12 shots and 5 effective shots).
The ‘Gwangju FC duo’, frontline striker Heo Yul and flanker Um Ji-seong,
showed off their chemistry in the early stages, and after conceding a goal,
various aggressive substitution cards were used, but ultimately did not lead to a goal.
After the game, Coach Hwang’s first diagnosis was, “It was a game that lacked offensive detail.”
In order to advance to the U-23 Asian Cup finals held in April-May next year,
which is the final qualifying round for the Paris Olympics,
a team must rank first in its group in this preliminary round or be among the top four teams
among the second-place teams from 11 groups.
With games remaining against Kyrgyzstan (9th) and Myanmar (12th),
among the players who did not play against Qatar,
‘overseas’ Jeong Sang-bin (Minnesota) remains a card that can bring change to the offensive line.
Coach Hwang emphasized, “We need a win in the next game,”
announced plans to prepare an attack for various situations.
Asian Games
Concerns have been raised about the lack of specialized ‘one-top’ resources for the Asian Games national team,
which is scheduled to begin the group stage starting on the 19th, since the final entry was confirmed.
There has been constant criticism that there is no frontline striker with weight like Hwang Ui-jo (Norwich),
who played a key role in winning the gold medal by scoring 9 goals
at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang five years ago.
Jae-Yong Park (Jeonbuk) and Jae-Jun Ahn (Bucheon) were named as frontline strikers in this national team,
but since both players were second-division players at the time of selection,
there was a question mark as to whether they would be able to make the difference in a game with a lot of pressure.
Cho Young-wook, who played for Gimcheon Sangmu for military service and recently
became the leading scorer in K-League 2, appears to be on the rise.
He is not a professional striker, but rather a player who has played various positions in the attack department,
so attention is focused on what decision Coach Hwang will make.
National Team
Coach Hwang, who was a famous striker who was the top scorer at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games
with 11 goals and ranked second (50th) in A-match scoring among Korean male players,
said, “I know well the concerns about the strikers for the Asian Games national team.”
He said, “Jaeyong Park’s participation in his team’s games is a bit low,
but Jaejun Ahn’s condition is improving.
Youngwook Cho, who is currently in a good situation, can also take on the top spot,
so we are trying to find a combination and match it through training.”
“We will draw up a lineup for the first game,” he said.
Another remaining variable is the optimal position to utilize the presence of Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain),
who will play an important role in the development of the attack.
This is something that can only become clear once he joins the national team and observes his chemistry with his teammates,
but Coach Hwang is worried because it is unclear when Lee Kang-in
will join the national team due to his thigh injury.